Mop swatch



March 8, 1955 w PQDOLAK ETAL 2,703,425

MOP SWATCH Filed April 6, 1950 -2 Sheets-Sheet l Z5 7 INVENTORS Walla) fadalai By j fafieri Ejggleg HTTOIPNEY March 1955 w. F. PODOLAK ETAL 2,703,425

MOP SWATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 6, 1950 INVENTORS ii filler Padalaifi BY ilokei'l E fi'gglq m n [,JiM

United States Patent MOP SWATCH Walter F. Podolak and Robert E. Bagley, Chicago, 111.,

assignors to Boyle-Midway Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 6, 1950, Serial No. 154,304

2 Claims. (Cl. 15-229) This invention relates to a mop swatch having a long narrow tubular fabric backing member adapted to be threaded on a wire frame to constitute a mop head.

In the past, mops of the general type of the present mop have been made by stitching a strip of fabric perpendicular to a layer of alined parallel yarn strands; the layer is then folded on itself along a m1dl1ne of the fabric strip and the opposed edges of the strip are sewed together through the yarn strands or the doubled strip 1s riveted to a metal frame. Such mops are disclosed, for example, respectively in Severns U. S. Patent 1,510,505 (Fig. 4) and Altenbern et al. U. S. Patent 2,242,444 (Fig. 13). Another example of such prior mops, in which the yarn strands are held by stitching between the folded layers of a fabric strip, is found in Toof U. S. Patent 1,281,883. In these cases the strands of yarn are firmly secured between plies of the doubled str1p so as to form a body with all of the yarn strands firmly attached. This gives fullness to the swatch and provides a buffer to prevent damage to furniture when the mop 1s m use.

One disadvantage of mops so constructed is that the yarn secured between the plies of the strip is wasted as far as mopping effectiveness goes, since it serves only to add body to the sewed strip. Another disadvantage 1s that the necessity of folding the strip over the strands of yarn requires the use of relatively wide fabric strips, thus adding further to the cost of the mop. A further disadvantage is that the manufacturmg steps in producing such mops are complicated by the necessary supplemental stitching or riveting and folding operations after the strip is sewed to the yarn.

An effort to use a fabric tube for threading a swatch on a mop frame is disclosed in Ruinet French Patent 766,358. Here, however, the tube constltutes the edge of a canvas foundation to which the mop strands are sewed (Fig. 2). This results in a relatively costly and inetficient mop swatch.

It is an object of our invention to provide a mop swatch and mop-head assembly which lacks these disadvantages and is, at the same time, an efficient cleaning device that is economical to manufacture. Other objects and advantages will be clear to those skilled 1n the art from the following disclosure.

According to our invention, we first make a long, narrow fabric tube; this may be done by folding a fabric strip longitudinally along its center line and stitching the edges together, but we have found it preferable to make it by superposing one fabric stnp on another and sewing both edges together by overcasting or serglng. Either method produces a tube havlng an oblong cross section.

The fabric tube thus formed is then laid on parallel alined swatch yarns perpendicular to the strands, and stitched to the yarns along one edge of the tube. We have found it satisfactory to use a double row of stitching, the single rows being spaced about /a inch apart, and the individual stitches in the two rows being staggered. We have also found it preferable to offset these rows from the centerline of the yarn strands, so that the strands on one side of the seam are longer than those on the other. In the assembled mop head the shorter strands constitute the interior and the longer strands the exterior yarns of the assembly. In a swatch 19-20 inches long, yarn lengths on either side of the seam of 3% inches and 5 inches, respectively, have been found acceptable for certain types of mop.

The fabric of which the tube is made is of importance. While canvas or a similar woven fabric may be used, we prefer to use a felt. The reasons for this are that felt, because of its thickness, furnishes greater body, and because of its structure does not ravel; furthermore, the felt tube constitutes an effective buffer to prevent furniture damage when the mop is used. In prior mops, body was furnished by the doubled yarns sewed between the fabric layers. In our mop there are no yarns between the fabric layers; hence the desirability of furnishing body by using felt. In a 19-20 inch swatch we have found it satisfactory to make the tube by overcasting or serging together two strips of felt approximately l-1% inches wide and inch thick.

In accordance with customary practise, we prefer to wind the yarn on frames before sewing the fabric tube (in our preferred case the pre-formed felt tube) to the alined parallel yarn strands. After attachment of the fabric tube, the yarn may be cut from the frame, as by rotating knives registering with slots in the side edges of the frame, as is well known in the art. The swatch on removal from the frame is complete, requiring no further operations such as folding or additional stitching. These extremely simple operational steps result in a rugged swatch having a longitudinal tubular fabric extending lengthwise and entirely on one side of the swatch, the strands of which are all exterior to the tube.

The completed swatch is adapted to be threaded on a mop-head frame. The frame is preferably made of rust-proofed heavy wire or strip metal, bent into a nearly closed form, such as a triangle, heart-shaped figure, circle or the like. A gap is provided between the ends of the wire or strip in the forward side of the frame to permit threading on of the swatch, and provision is made for hingedly attaching a mop handle; this may be accomplished by providing a reentrant portion at the rear having a cross portion near the center of the frame.

The cross-sectional shape of the tube sewed to our swatch is oblong-either in inverted tear-drop form, if the swatch is made with one longitudinal seam, or lenticular, if the tube is made with two seams; in both cases the long axis is vertical when the swatch is in place on the frame. Application of the swatch to the frame is facilitated if the cross section of the frame member conforms at one or more points to these shapes. In the case of wire frames this is accomplished and threading on of the swatch is facilitated by bending the ends of the wire back on the wire in a vertical plane, thus providing blunt threading ends with a vertically elongated cross section. In the case of a strip-metal frame, the strip is bent so that its vertical cross-sectional dimension is greater than its horizontal dimension. The following description, together with the drawings, illustrates preferred embodiments of our invention, but the description and drawings are intended to be exemplary only and not to limit our invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are perspectives of felt tubes;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of an uncut swatch on a frame, the individual strands of yarn being shown with someihali exaggerated diameters to make the construction 0 ear;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross section on line 44 of Fig. 3 of a tube sewed to yarn on a frame;

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspectives of mop-head frames;

Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional views of swatch tubes partially threaded on frames;

Fig. 9 is a perspective of a completed swatch; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective of an assembled mop-head; in Figs. 9 and 10 the strands of the swatch are indicated diagrammatically.

In the drawings 1 represents a fabric tube formed of two layers of felt 2 and 3 secured together at their edges by overcasting or serging as at 4. The felt strips are 1% inches wide and inch thick. The serging overlaps the edges inch with inch stitches. The tube may be made continuously and cut off in desired lengths. In Figs. 2 and 8 a modified tube 5 is shown, made of one strip of felt folded on its midline and serged with one seam 6 only.

A length of tube 1 is sewed to one side of a yarn layer 7 wound in parallel strands on a frame 8. The tube is sewed perpendicular to the strands along a line 9, offset from the center of the frame, by two parallel rows of stitching 10 and 11, spaced /s inch apart, the stitches in the two seams being longitudinally staggered. The swatch is then cut from the frame by knives registering with grooves 12 in the side edges of the longitudinal side members of the frame. The swatch is completed by this cutting operation, and is then ready to be threaded on mop-head frame 13 or 14.

Frame 13 is made of heavy wire 15 to which is hingedly attached, intermediate its ends 17 and 18, sheet-metal handle socket 16. The wire, which is rust-proofed, as by tinning, galvanizing or cadmium plating, is bent into the nearly-closed figure shown in Fig. 5, the ends 17 and 18, being brought into apposition but kept separated on the forward side of the frame. To form these frame ends, the extreme ends 19 and 20 of wire 15 are bent back on the wire in a plane perpendicular to that of the frame, i. e. in a vertical plane, to form rounded frame ends having a greater vertical than horizontal dimension. In Fig. 5 the ends are shown bent downwards and back on wire 15 in a vertical plane. Alternatively they may be bent upwards and back on wire 15 in a vertical plane. This facilitates threading the tubes 1 or 5 on the frame since the tubes also have a greater vertical than horizontal cross-sectional dimension. This is illustrated in Fig. 7, a cross-sectional view of the end 18 of frame 13 inside tube 1. Such an arrangement prevents undesirable twisting of the swatch while being threaded on the frame.

Frame 14 (Fig. 6) is an alternative form made of strip metal 21 instead of wire. As in frame 13, the ends 22 and 23 are near each other but do not meet. This frame is provided with a half hinge 24, intermediate ends 22 and 23, for hingedly attaching a handle. It will be seen that the ends of this frame also present a cross section with a greater vertical than horizontal dimension and thus, like ends 17 and 18, conform to the internal shape of tubes 1 and 5, facilitate threading of the tube on the frame and prevent undesirable twisting of the swatch. This is illustrated in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 8.

A completed swatch is illustrated in perspective in Fig. 9. The assembly of such a swatch threaded on frame 13 is illustrated in Fig. 10, one end of the tube 1 being threaded over one end of the frame and the other end of the tube being threaded over the other end of the frame. It will be noted that the swatch is brought around return bend 25 on each side of the frame 13, so that the wire 15 is completely covered except close to socket 16. This provides greater security of the swatch on the frame and increased effective mopping surface, but does not interfere with removal of the swatch for washing or other reason. The swatch may be readily removed by holding the socket 16 in the right hand, crooking a finger of the left hand around tube 1 in the curve 26 between the ends of the frame, and separating the hands with an easy steady pull. In mopping operations, however, the swatch has no tendency to pull away from the frame.

From the above description it will be seen that we have devised a swatch which is eflicient to use, economical to make both operationally and in material consumption, and which is well adapted to be threaded on a wire or strip metal mop head, to remain thereon when in use, and to be easily removed therefrom for washing or other purpose.

We claim:

1. A mop swatch adapted to be threaded on a mophead frame of elongated metal bent into a nearly closed shape but with accessible ends, said swatch comprising a layer of transverse parallel yarn strands and a longitudinal tubular fabric member secured to one side thereof, the longitudinal member consisting of a long narrow tube of felt, open at both ends, having at least one flattened edge formed by joining two plies of the felt, having one internal cross-sectional dimension substantially less than the perpendicular internal cross-sectional dimension, and being secured to the yarn strands solely along said one flattened edge by stitching passing only through said felt plies and layer of yarn strands, the yarn strands lying entirely outside the tube.

2. A mop swatch as defined in claim 1, in which the longitudinal tubular member consists of two strips of felt, one superposed on the other, the strips being united along both edges by overcasting.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,121,008 Glass Dec. 15, 1914 1,304,413 Traill May 20, 1919 1,866,114 Kootz July 5, 1932 2,035,130 Klawans Mar. 24, 1936 2,185,873 Underhill Jan. 2, 1940 2,242,444 Altenbern May 20, 1941 2,347,169 Bennett Apr. 25, 1944 2,522,691 Podolak Sept. 19, 1950 2,631,324 Dufour Mar. 17, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 611,438 France Sept. 28, 1926 

